There are a variety of decking systems on the market today. Most of the decking systems utilize some sort of fastening means; may it be a screw, nail or staple to attach the decking members to the underlying joists. Furthermore, with most decking systems, the fastening means is installed directly through the top face of the decking members to the joist below. In addition, there are decking systems that employ plates to attach decking members to joists. However, these decking systems have some major drawbacks.
The common method of securing the decking members to the underlying joists by directly fastening the decking member to the joist through the top face of the decking member has many drawbacks. First, the fastening means are visible and this leads to many shortcomings: the heads of the fastening means are unattractive and take away from the façade of the natural wood, the fastening means may rust and discolor the decking members, the fastening means may work loose and become a safety hazard to persons walking on top of the decking structure, finally hammer blows to decking surface during installation may cause depressions that collect water. The collection of water may lead to splintering of the decking members, mold growth and the propagation of cracks starting at where the fastener installation occurs.
Another problem with this common method is that installation may become problematic because one cannot see exactly where the joists lie underneath the decking member. Therefore, numerous times during installation of the decking members, the person installing the deck may miss a joist or only partially strike a joist and have to back out the fastening means or leave the fastening means in the decking member and install yet another fastening means to secure the decking member to the joist. Once again, this problems leads to the aforementioned problems with visible fastening means.
Another shortcoming of the most common method of deck installation is that after a period time the decking members may loosen and move. The movement of the decking members causes problems. First, the decking does not keep its uniform look, which results in loss of aesthetic appeal. In addition, the decking members may move enough to cause the loss of the sought after gaps between the installed decking members. If the gaps between the decking members disappear, there is nowhere for rainwater or other liquids to drain from the decking structure. Yet again, this leads to the aforementioned problem of mold and discoloration of the decking members due to rusting of the fastening members.
The current deck systems that use plates have some major drawbacks. First, with most deck systems that use plates, the fasteners are secured upwards from underneath the decking member. This makes installation and maintenance troublesome because the person installing or maintaining the deck must work from underneath the deck. This situation is especially troublesome with decking that is situated close to the ground and is hard to reach from underneath the decking members.
Additionally, the current deck systems are flawed because when the fasteners are attached through the decking members from the underside of decking members, the ends of the fasteners may protrude through the top face of the decking members if the fasteners are not precisely sized. This situation puts persons walking on top of the decking structure at serious risk for stepping on protruding nails, screws and other fasteners.